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Sinyavino Offensive
The Sinyavino Offensive of 1942 was an operation planned by the Soviet Union with the aim of breaking the German blockade and establish a reliable supply line to Leningrad which was under siege from Germans and Finns for almost a year by then. At the same time, German forces were planning Operation Northern Light (German:'' Nordlicht'') to capture the city and link up with Finnish forces. It was a Stalemate between September 10th–20th, but ended in a draw between the opposing forces. The Soviet Union had tried throughout 1942 to lift the siege, it would eventualy fail to do it at this time. While both the winter and Lyuban offensives operation failed to break the siege of the city, there was now a part of the front where only 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) separated the Leningrad Front in the city and the Volkhov Front. The Soviet offensive had first begun in 2 stages with the Leningrad Front began the offensive on August 19 and the Volkhov Front launched the main offensive on August 27. From August 28, the German side shifted the forces which were building up for their own offensive to gradually halt the Soviet offensive. Initial German counterattacks failed, but the Soviet forces could not advance either. The offensive was to link up the forces of the two fronts and establish a supply route to Leningrad. The 20th and 21st saw many German reinforcement enter the war zone. The main German counter offensive began on September 21 and on September 25, after five days of very heavy fighting, German forces linked up near Gaitolovo, encirceling part of the Soviet 8th (the 6th Guards Rifle Corps) and 2nd Shock Armies were encircled. From the end of September to October 15, the German forces reduced the encirclement and recaptured all previously lost strong points, except a small bridgehead held by forces of the Leningrad Front near Moskovkaya Dubrovka. By October 10, the front line already mostly returned to the position before this battle. For the Soviet Union this operation was a costly failure, although with less effect compared to the Soviet defeat near Miasnoy Bor in June and July, where the 2nd Shock Army was almost destroyed. After only three months the Soviet forces would launch a new offensive, Operation Iskra, which would open a corridor to Leningrad in January 1943. Although the Soviet threat was eliminated and the position of the 18th Army re-established, the 11th Army had suffered serious losses in men, equipment and ammunition. The badly damaged German forces were loseing men and equpment fast and needed to regroop and be reinforced in a more faverable situation or face firther heavy losses. The heavy casualties led to the OKH Operations Order No. 1, which ordered Army Group North to defenseive duties during the winter. During that November, Army Group North was stripped of men and equipment to help deal with a major Soviet offensive at Stalingrad and so Operation Northern Light was canceled. All in all the Soviet troops were, in contrast to their earlier operations, very well equipped with artillery, tanks a few Katyusha rocket launchers. Engineering units were attached to individual artillery batteries, increasing the overall mobility of the army. The Soviet troops were equipped with large numbers of PPD-40 and PPSh-41 sub-machine guns. German troops were fairly well equiped, but supplys werte running low. Because the Leningrad Front was weaker at the start of the offencive, the Volkhov was to tasked carry out the bulk of the offensive, while the Leningrad Front would only carry out local attacks, gurriar warfair and the captureing of bridgeheads across the River Neva. The Volkhov Front's 8th Army was to spearhead the attack, with the 4th Guards Rifle Corps in second and the reforming 2nd Shock Army in third echelon. *German- 5,893 dead. *USSR- 40,085 dead and 73,589 wounded. *Finland- Did not take part. Category:World War II Category:Russia